Sports

The St. Louis U. High football team faced off against fellow Jesuit school and rival De Smet last Friday night, falling short in a 49-36 loss. Despite the disappointing result, the annual Jesuits vs. Cancer game still provided an overwhelming success for the mission of both schools. Both schools had students shave their heads for cancer awareness and both schools sent their spirit teams through the stands to collect donations. The Jr. Bills fell to 4-2 on the season but are still grateful to raise awareness and have the chance to showcase more than the score of the game

^{Stein dashing towards the endzone.  photo | Vic Lewchenko}

"Whether it’s Coach Merritt at De Smet or Tony Woolfolk it’s great to have coaches that can put aside competition and not just worry about the game,” said head coach Adam Cruz.

Along with the Jesuits vs. Cancer, SLUH announced the establishment of the Mark Tychonievich Endowed Fund for SLUH football, created by Christine and Chris Finney ’02. The fund is dedicated to honor the impact “Coach T” left on all Jr. Bills and all those affected by cancer. Coach T served as a football coach for 20 years while working as a Latin Teacher.

”Him and I got extremely close before he passed and he’s a great man,” said Cruz. “I can’t think of a better person to be honored.”

After the pre-game announcements, SLUH won the toss and elected to defer, sending their defense onto the field first. De Smet looked to their rushing attack to get them going, and two straight first downs got them into Jr. Bill territory. The Spartans continued their drive, this time going through the air. De Smet completed three straight passes of 10-plus yards, with the final one being a screen pass which was taken 16 yards to the end zone. The extra point was no good, giving De Smet the 6-0 lead just 79 seconds into the game.

“Everybody collectively missed a bunch of tackles,” said senior NIU commit John Ramella. “It’s just a simple thing that we can fix that will change the trajectory of the game for sure.”

The offense took the field led by senior quarterback Patrick Stein, and immediately went to their tried-and-true rushing attack, as junior Tyler Kozminske quickly picked up gains of 8 and 18 yards. Getting all the way down to the De Smet 25-yard line, the offense failed to convert a fourth-and-3, turning the ball over on downs. 

The Spartan offense was quick to respond, as they marched down the field, and just five plays into the drive, found the end zone again on a 29-yard completion, extending their lead to 13-0.

The Jr. Bills’ next drive started at the 38-yard line, aided by a squib kick returned by Will Rainey. The offense then took the field, this time led by sophomore quarterback Patrick Ramella. Ramella, who began the year as SLUH’s starter, suffered a knee injury Week 2 against CBC, and hadn’t seen the field since. 

“A team having to prepare for two quarterbacks against me and Pat is something very complicated and something that is very hard to handle for other teams,” said Ramella. “I think that makes us a way better team, having two great athletes at quarterback.” 

On Ramella’s first play back from injury, he threw a bomb to sophomore receiver Tristen Johnson, who hauled in the pass and took it 62 yards to the house, cutting the deficit to 6.

SLUH’s defense took the field, and quickly forced a fourth down, as De Smet shot themselves in the foot with two penalties on both first and second down. However, the Spartans converted on fourth and 1, giving them a new set of downs. The penalties continued to fly against the Spartans, as another holding call pushed them back 10 yards, and they were eventually forced to punt on fourth and 12.

Ramella and the offense took the field, this time pinned back at their own 9-yard line. The Jr. Bills quickly marched their way down the field, aided by another huge reception from Johnson, making it to the De Smet 16-yard line. Ramella attempted a pass to Rainey, but the De Smet cornerback undercut it, intercepting the pass at the 1-yard line.

“A responsibility was given to me in that game, and I failed to execute it,” said Ramella. “That was the snowball effect that built up over the course of the game.”

SLUH’s experienced defense refused to give any ground to the Spartans, and forced a punt from the 6-yard-line after a three and out, with a big third down tackle from the linebacker trio of Anthony Busby Jr., John Ramella, and Sam Yust. 

The offense returned, this time led by Pat Stein. The tandem of quarterbacks returned to their early-season routine of substituting in for each other when needed, and have done so willingly.

“Both of these men have handled it incredibly, they embrace their roles and support each other,” said Cruz. “It’s awesome as a coach having two guys like Ramella and Stein who really understand what’s best for the team and for them.”

“Having two quarterbacks makes our offense very dynamic,” said Stein. “With our style of play, defenses can’t really game plan for both of us.”

Stein led the team down the field with a variety of plays, as he took quarterback runs, handed it off to Kozminske, and found Johnson again to put the team on the 3-yard line. Within striking distance, SLUH turned to their bread and butter, Hellcat, and sent John Ramella to punch the ball in, giving the Jr. Bills the 14-13 lead.

Back on the defensive side of the ball, SLUH couldn’t stop the De Smet offense, who was averaging 45 points per game leading up to the matchup, as they marched down the field. The Jr. Bills seemed to halt the Spartans just inside the red zone, with senior Atticus Arbetter, who played his first snaps at defensive end, making two crucial tackles from his new position.

“I was able to combine linebacker and running back moves into one, and it works,” said Arbetter. “My speed from being a running back really helps being at end.”

However, the Spartans found their way into the end zone yet again, reestablishing their lead, 20-14.

Stein and the offense were unable to get the ball moving on the next drive, sending another punt down to the Spartans, who started their next drive at their own 39-yard line with just 2:40 remaining in the first half. It seemed as though De Smet would score once again, as they quickly made their way into the Jr. Bills’ red zone, but with just seconds left in the half, Yust dove in front of a pass, picking it off at the 15-yard-line. However, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed the offense inside their own 10, where the offense ate up the rest of the clock, sending the teams to the locker room. 

SLUH opened the second half in great field position from their own 46-yard line following an onside kick try by the Spartans. Stein instantly aired one out over the head of receiver Johnson before the refs called pass interference on De Smet, giving the Jr. Bills 15 yards and moving them into Spartan territory. SLUH went right back to taking another deep shot, this time attempting a pass to Kozminske, who also drew a pass interference call on De Smet. The Spartans’ costly mistakes allowed the Jr. Bills to make their way to the De Smet 24-yard line in 15 seconds. 

Following a one-yard run on second down from Kozminske, SLUH quickly faced a tough third and nine. The Jr. Bills offense ran a read option with Stein keeping it running down the left side untouched for a touchdown, giving Jr. Bills a 21-20 lead less than two minutes into the second half.

The Spartan offense opened their next drive from their own 34-yard line, quickly making their way into SLUH territory. The Jr. Bills missed a key chance to get the ball back as the De Smet quarterback dropped the ball off the snap before picking it up and completing a pass for over 20 yards. The Jr. Bills soon forced a fourth down where De Smet opted for a field goal, hooking it wide left, giving SLUH the ball back with the chance to build their lead. 

However, the Jr. Bills got nothing going offensively and ended on a Pat Stein fumble on a rush up the middle. This gave the Spartans excellent field possession, which they capitalized on with a QB sneak to finish the drive and take back a 27-21 lead.

Following the fumble, Ramella entered the game again at quarterback. From the midfield, De Smet sent heavy pressure, forcing him to rush out the pocket to the right and make a cross-body throw that was intercepted and returned to the Jr. Bills goal line. The Spartans capitalized once again on a Jr. Bills turnover to increase their lead to 34-21.

“As good as you are, there’s not many games you’re going to be able to win turning over the ball four times,” said Cruz.

After allowing 14 straight points, SLUH turned back to their two-QB system, opening it up with Ramella. The Jr. Bills used their passing game to convert multiple first downs and get to the Spartans redzone. To finish it off, SLUH sent in Stein, who ran it in for his second rushing touchdown of the game to cut the lead to 34-28 with no time left in the third quarter.

Unfortunately, it took De Smet only one play to score a touchdown with missed tackles causing the Jr. Bills deficit to increase to 14.

“We have to be able to tackle … the common thread of our losses is the fundamentals of our tackling coming apart,” said Cruz.

On second and 11 the Jr. Bills completed a huge chunk play from their own territory to get inside the De Smet 10-yard line before being called back for a holding penalty. SLUH was still able to get in De Smet territory after this before having their drive end on turnover on downs with a Johnson catch marking one yard short of the line to gain.

The teams then exchanged possessions before a De Smet touchdown increased their lead to 49-28 seemingly putting an end for a possible SLUH win. The Jr. Bills still managed to score after this coming from a spectacular catch by Johnson in the end zone on an off-balance throw from Stein. 

“Tristen is getting better and better … he works very hard on his craft and it’s nice to see it paying off,” said Cruz.

The Jr. Bills second highest point total on the season unfortunately wasn’t enough, losing 49-36 as they fell to 4-2 and 1-2 in MCC play.

Vianney

The Jr. Bills will take on the Vianney Griffins tonight at 6:00 for their third straight game at home. The Griffins are 2-4 and coming off a 51-29 loss to Chaminade. They head to Oakland Avenue looking to avoid going winless in MCC play.

“As long as we get back to taking care of the ball and doing things like that we should be alright,” said Cruz.